Center Rankings

Center

School

Round

Brian Schwenke*

California

3rd

Travis Frederick

Wisconsin

3rd

Barrett Jones

Alabama

4th

Khaled Holmes*

USC

4th

Jeff Baca

UCLA

6th

* Can also play guard

Analysis

You can have take Travis Frederick in the 2nd round if you like and I'll take Brian Schwenke in the 3rd and we'll see who is the better player in five years. It's not that I don't like Frederick, because I do. I just think Frederick is a little more limited the Schwenke. Schwenke has played guard and center in college and has shown his ability to drop anchor against bull-rushers while still being able to handle his business on Cal's outside zone plays. Frederick plays with heavy hands for a center and will be targeted by power teams only.

Barrett Jones came into the season with a good reputation around college football and he leaves Alabama with a good reputation as a winner and a guy who played tackle, guard and center. Unfortunately for Jones, I don't think many teams believe that he's worth of a top 3 round pick based on his tape. Jones played injured for part of the year (including in the national championship game), but his tape pre-injury wasn't great.

Khaled Holmes has extremely long arms and we might see a team try him out at guard, but I think he'll ultimately be a center. He's pretty good in space, but doesn't do any one thing well enough to make you say, "Wow!". Jeff Baca played guard at UCLA, but I think his best spot is center on the next level. Baca has good lateral quickness and is a tough guy. He's worthy of a late round pick.